A possible second incident of South India terrorist killed in Kashmir claims Ansar Ghazwatul Hind

One of the terrorists who had been eliminated by the security forces in Anantnag district on Monday was originally from Hyderabad, claimed Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, the al-Qaida cell in Kashmir.

On Monday, Indian security forces engaged with terrorists in a gun battle in Hakoora area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district in which three terrorists were shot dead. The identity of one of the terrorists is not officially known even though the other two have been identified to be Syed Owais Shafi of Kokernag, Anantnag and Eisa Fazili of Soura, in Srinagar.

An Ansar statement published in a local news agency claimed that the third dead terrorist was Muhammad Taufeeq of Hyderabad. “Taufeeq started his jihadi journey in 2017 after making Hijrah (migration) from India’s Hyderabad city to the mountains of Kashmir and was among the first in the ranks of Ansar,” the al-Qaida cell’s statement read.

Sultan Zabul Al-Hindi and Abu Zarr Al-Hindi were the two noms de guerre that the dead Hyderabadi was known as said the statement. A picture – whose date is not verified, of the slain South Indian terrorist with the deputy chief of Ansar – Rehan Khan, was also published by the outfit. The head of the outfit is Zakir Bhat, alias Zakir Musa.

Terming Taufeeq as a “descendant and heir of Mujahid and conqueror of India Mehmood Ghaznavi”, the Ansar said on its official website, Al-Nasr: “We congratulate Islamic Ummah on the martyrdom of the mujahid and preacher Muhammad Taufeeq. His martyrdom is a cry of truth for the Muslims of India.”

This would however not be the first time that a terrorist outside of the state of Jammu and Kashmir would have joined the so-called jihad there if this claim turns out to be true. Reportedly belonging to the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and with aliases, Yasin and Fayaz, it was claimed that two of the terrorists killed in an encounter in the frontier district of Kupwara in 2008 were from Kerala.

According to a senior police official who is also a part of the counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir told the media: “Though the Ansar remains a small organization, it appears to have won some cachet among young Kashmiri Islamists disillusioned with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Lashkar. If it (Ansar) could attract some radicalized Muslim youth from other parts of the country, it would be a huge challenge for security agencies to stop them.”

On the other hand, sources have told the media that four family members of Sayed Salahuddin – the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, was detained by the National Investigation Agency. This was in relation to a terror funding case.

Shakil Ahmed, Javaid Ahmed and Muhammad Moieed – three sons of Salahuddin, and his son-in-law Muhammad Umar, were reportedly picked up by the NIA.

The NIA continued with the questioning of the all of the detained family members except Javaid Ahmed, who was released after questioning. Shahid Yousuf, another son of the Hizb chief, is lodged in Tihar Jail.